Magnetic Horse Therapy
I was astonished to discover not just one, but a multitude of businesses all in the market of magnetic horse therapy. Most of them claim to use "pulsed electro-magnetic fields" (PEMF) to treat everything from depression to brittle bones.
The products came in many shapes and sizes.
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And they appear to work on all sorts of animals! Just look at how happy this cow is.
Naturally I had to learn more about how this incredible medical technology worked.
Magnetic Therapy Explained
"PEMF is said to positively charge blood cells so that they repel one another (like-magnetic charges repel), making it impossible for them to stick together. This maximizes the ability of the blood cells to perform their tasks in the capillaries of all the major organs."
- Magnawave website
Wow! Seems they have discovered magnetic monopoles, something thought impossible by physics. Strange that they haven't gotten their Nobel prize yet!
"It works in conjunction with the earth's magnetic fields, which affect positively and negatively charged microscopic molecules in cells called ions."
- thehorse.com
Wait so the earth's magnetic field has something to do with it? It kinda looks like the horse's leg is just warmer because it was wrapped in a blanket. Then again I'm no veterinarian.
"PEMF therapy has scientifically documented beneficial effects on multiple biological tissues ranging from bone to brain. The reason for these beneficial effects is because PEMF therapy triggers a cascade of biological processes that supports ailing tissues."
- Keith R. Holden, M.D.
A cascade of biological processes? But... which ones?
"Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field technology is a soothing modality that stimulates and exercises the cells to address cellular dysfunction and support overall wellness.
- pulseequine.com
A soothing stimulation that addresses cellular dysfunction? What dysfunction? How does it address the "dysfunction"?
- - phtproducts.com
I thought the polarity of the field depended what direction you were facing, just like right and left. Turns out the arbitrary choice of orientation makes a huge difference!
The Research
After reading through many vague and conflicting explanations I decided the best thing to do was to dig into the research. Lucky for me one of the websites that sold PEMF products for horses had a whole page dedicated to citing their claims.
Citations 1 & 2
The first two citations were of chiropractors, but I wanted something from an actual doctor or research scientist, so I kept looking.
Citations 3 & 4
The third and fourth citations were articles from pubmed! Seemed I had finally found what I was looking for. However I noticed that both articles were published in the same journal: the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies. I thought it would be wise to look this journal up. One of the first things I learned was that this journal had been specifically listed as an example of a fake medical journal by Steven Salzberg. How rude of him! Just because he's a distinguished professor of biomedical engineering, computer science, and biostatistics at John Hopkins he thinks he knows what he's talking about?
However I had to concede he had a point when I learned that articles in the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies claim horses have a "gallbladder meridian" despite their lack of a gallbladder. Seems they really don't know much about horses, which is kind of the whole point...
Well moving on...
Citation 5
Citation 5 was a book about knee surgery. As far as I could find the book made no mention of PEMF. What was interesting was that it had the very same publisher as the sham journal from citations 3 and 4, Elsevier Publishing. Let's look them up on wikipedia...
Yikes. Seems like these guys have some issues.
Citation 6
Citation 6 was published in a journal called Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. The journal's website lists the editor-in-chief, Andrew W. Campbell, as practicing medicine in Texas.
However in 2011 he was barred from practicing medicine in Texas because he "relied on junk science" to over-prescribe unnecessary tests.
Citations 7 & 8
Citation 7 was the website citing itself and citation 8 was another chiropractor.
Citations 9 - 12
Citations 9 through 11 seemed to have gone missing, and citation 12 was again a self-citation.
Citation 13
I was beginning to lose hope. But then I hit on lucky number 13! An article published in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. It appeared to be a journal without a horrible reputation, and it was even a controlled study!
- 210 adult male rats were used in this study
- A control group received no PEMF while other groups received one of two types of PEMF for varying lengths of time each day
- Animals underwent "bilateral acute supraspinatus injury and repair" followed by randomization into treatment groups
- Animals were sacrificed at 4, 8, or 16 weeks.
- At the time of sacrifice, right shoulders were immediately dissected
- Left shoulders were left intact and animals were frozen at -20C and thawed for dissection at the time of mechanical testing
Finally some proper data! Maybe we will finally see evidence of PEMF healing bones!
Results from "Effects of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy at different frequencies and durations on rotator cuff tendon-to-bone healing in a rat model"
These results are... difficult to interpret. Does the cross sectional area really decrease between 8 weeks and 16 weeks of treatment with 3 hours per day of "Physio-Stim"? Does 1 hour of treatment really create more stiffness after 16 weeks than 3 and 6 hour treatments?
This really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What the heck is "Physio-Stim" anyways?
Turns out that "Physio-Stim" is the name of product sold by the company Orthofix, Inc. who provided the funding for this whole study. No wonder the conclusions said, "Overall, our results suggest that PEMF therapy has a positive effect on rat rotator cuff healing" despite the data being all over the place.
Citation 14
The 14th citation was a guy who sells all sorts of PEMF devices for humans. Seems that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued a public warning telling him to stop claiming that his products could cure Covid-19.
Citation 15
Finally I reached the last citation: some writing by Nikola Tesla speculating how electromagnetism could benefit medicine.
Conclusions
What a disappointment.
It's almost as if this entire magnet therapy industry is pseudo-scientific snake oil with little to no research that can actually back up their claims.